Corporate Social Responsibility under the CSR Regulations, 2023

THE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AS PER CSR REGULATIONS 2023 1. Introduction The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Regulations 2003 (CSR Regulations) were published in Kiswahili: KANUNI ZA WAJIBU WA WAMILIKI WA LESENI ZA MADINI KWA JAMII ZA MWAKA 2023 by Government Notice (G.N) No. 409 of 23rd June 2023. The CSR Regulations are published by the Minister for Mining under section 129 (2) (v) of the Mining Act, Cap 123 [R.E. 2019]. 2. Scope of the CSR Regulations The CSR Regulations impose various responsibilities to mineral rights holders and the Local Government Authorities (LGA). The mineral rights holders who are required to comply with the CSR Regulations are: prospecting licence holders, special mining licence holders, mining licence holders, primary mining licence holders and mineral processing, smelting and refining licence holders. 3.

Establishment of Professional Committee The Regulations have established professional committees (the Committees) for each LGA where mining operations are being implemented. Local Authority is defined to mean ‘a village, ward, district/township, municipal and city or region authority in which the mining activities are implemented.’ 3.1. Responsibilities of the Professional Committee The main responsibilities of the Committee are: i. To review plans, drawings, timetable and others matters concerning the CSR program of the mineral licence holder and submit it to District, Municipal or Regional Council. ii. To make sure that CSR projects implemented have value for money. iii. To oversee that the approved CSR projects are implemented. iv. To offer technical advice to CSR projects executioners. v. To prepare implementation report on CSR projects. vi.

To analyse and review CSR project/program submitted by the mineral licence holders and submit it to District, Municipal or Regional Council. 4. Obligations to mineral licence holders The CSR Regulations have posed the following obligations to mineral licence holders; 4.1. To offer, in collaboration with the Ministry for Mining, public education on mineral licence holder CSR responsibilities at least twice a year. 4.2. To identify development priorities of the local community. This has to be done involving the LGAs. 4.3. To prepare, in collaboration with respective LGA, a strategic CSR plan on each year (12 calendar months).

4.4. To allocate development funds on an annual basis for respective local community in which mining operations are conducted. 4.5. When implementing CSR projects, mineral licence holder should take into account environmental, economic, social and traditional issues depending on respective local community. 4.6. To make sure that the CSR projects are real, can be implemented and can be evaluated. 4.7. To issue a written notice to a respective Council and the Mining Commission on every payment made to contractors and other stakeholders involved in the respective project. 4.8. To issue statement of account to the Mining Commission on the funds used. 4.9. To execute CSR projects by abiding to procurement requirements. 5. Offences The CSR Regulations make it an offence whereby a mineral licence holder fails to implement an approved CSR project.

The mineral rights holder is penalised depending on the situation, ether suspension or cancellation of the licence. 6. Dispute resolution In case there is any dispute between the mineral licence holder and the respective Council, there is an established mechanism for resolving the same. There three ways of settling the disputes concerning implementation of the CSR projects, that is; a) Amicable settlement by discussion.

That is, the parties have to negotiate and attain an amicable settlement of the dispute. b) Reference of the dispute to the Mining Commission In case the parties cannot attain an amicable settlement, the dispute can be referred to the Mining Commission and the Mining Commission shall review the subject matter of the dispute and issue a decision. c) Appeal to the Minister for Mining In case a party is aggrieved by the Mining Commission's decision, the aggrieved party has to appeal to the Minister for Mining for a final decision. Disclaimer The views expressed in this paper are those of the author only and should not be considered as an official interpretation, defamatory or interference of any legislation, laws or policies of any country including Tanzania. The contents of this paper should not under any circumstances be reproduced or used without our express written consent.

It should not be considered as a legal advice to any of its recipient(s) and should not be relied upon without obtaining further legal advice. We accept no liability for any loss occasioned or suffered due to the contents of this paper.